Featured Articles: Arts and Media

After I booked a 12-day trip home for the holidays, a rarity after several years away, I heard my brother gasp through the phone, incredulous. “Are you crazy?” he asked. I hadn’t really thought of this as a death sentence, but then started to...

I've often heard it said that you should write for “yourself,” not for others. In some ways, I agree. It’s hard to write freely and openly if you’re constantly worrying about what others will think of your work. (Remember what William Carlos...

Oh sister, am I lazy! I didn’t get up early enough this morning. I didn’t finish all the work I said I was going to do. I left the dishes in the sink, and the laundry unwashed. I haven’t cleaned in weeks. I seem to have quit my meditation practice...

Earlier this week, a friend confided in me, but while he spoke, I was already trying to solve his problem for him in my mind. When he was done telling me his story, I began to offer advice. He seemed a bit hurt, and I realized I had not...

Advice to William Carlos Williams from his dad, in response to a letter:
You’re quite wrong. What you have written is not “lousy” but extremely effective. Write, when you feel like it, and write freely, carelessly (if you know what I mean)...

AttentionOne
You direct it where you want itLike you want to cross the street so you look both waysLike you overhear a conversation about love, so you tune into it and out of jabber jabber and cars passing by
AttentionBee
It is pulled by phenomena...

Aging and rock n' roll don't go well together. When I listen to the music I love, especially old punk songs that nobody around me cares about anymore, I feel hopelessly doomed to a world where I keep getting older and the punk kids stay the same age...

Journaling as a Mindfulness Practice
When I meditate, I sometimes notice myself thinking, Ok, Emily, concentrate, concentrate, hold on to the breath and have a good session this time, not like last time when you were all over the place.

It’s almost Thanksgiving. Time to pig out on sweet potatoes, take a food-coma nap on the couch, and hopefully have a few days off from work to rest and be with family. With all the traveling and eating, writing may not seem like a big deal. (Maybe...

I’ve done it oh so many times: open up a Word document or turn to a fresh notebook page to begin a poem or an essay and…nothing. Blah. Blah blah blah. That idea was stupid. I have to do my dishes. I have to find a “real” job. Immediately. I...

I had just walked across the Williamsburg Bridge. Some other people walking across the bridge said the blackened city skyline looked cool. I declined to entertain this idea, only saying I had never seen my city like this,...

If right now, as in right this second, were to launch itself into this text, it would talk about meditation, and it would talk about disaster. It would talk about anger, and it would talk about giving. It would talk about anxiety, and it would talk...